Apple Pay has launched in Finland with the St1 Way app in the frontline

St1 Nordic’s new finance company St1 Finance and Nordea are the first adopters of Apple Pay in Finland. Customers can use Apple Pay with St1’s own credit card, which can be granted through the St1 Way application in just five minutes.

Today, Apple Pay makes wallet services and contactless payment possible for all iOS 11 iPhone users in Finland, Sweden and Norway. With Apple Pay contactless payment, the user does not need a physical card or PIN when paying at stores and is not necessarily bound to the EUR 25 transaction limit.

“The service is more secure than contactless cards because the payer can be authenticated with the phone’s fingerprint or facial recognition system”, says Matias Pietilä, Head of Design at Qvik. Qvik has enabled St1 Finance’s mobile infrastructure and its Apple Pay integration. “There is no monetary limit on the purchases made by St1 Finance customers.”

Expectations for Apple Pay’s popularity and impact are high, but it is too early to do more than speculate on the actual effects. To date, Apple Pay has not been deployed in a country directly comparable to the Finnish market.

“Finland has such a robust contactless payment infrastructure that the service will probably gain a broad user base in a short period of time”, Pietilä says.

Your bank matters – Apple Pay does not accept all credit cards

The Apple Pay service can only be used if the user’s card issuer is an Apple partner. If you have the right credit card, however, adopting the service could not be simpler. The function is automatically added to the Wallet app of compatible iPhones, and all you have to do is snap a shot of your credit card with the app. With the St1 Way application, the card can also be added to the app without a physical card.

“The number of Apple Pay compatible cards in Finland is limited, but you can easily get one through St1 Way without having to wait for a physical card”, Pietilä says.

St1 Finance is the new finance company of St1 Nordic. As its first service, the company offers Apple Pay compatible credit cards. Users can apply for the card through the St1 Way application and get the card immediately if the requirements are met.

The market share of iPhones in Finland is roughly 27 percent, so the new service will have an impact on a significant slice of mobile users. Read more from here.

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